BOOK•LIT discussion

Tags: #fiction, #race, #love, #taboo, #food, #forgiveness
Recommendation Index: 5 out of 5
Reading Index: 2 out of 5
Spice Index: non-existent (0 out of 5)
Reactivity Warning: This novel includes scenes detailing death, and racial injustices.

Rating 4.5 out of 5

The point of inflection can be subtle - for those who time has been kind to them, the realization that our parents aren't anymore human than, we ourselves are, will be gentle. For me, it was a hard transition caused by the sudden undoing of a dirty secret.

Many of the reviews of The Last Suppers include the prominent theme within the novel - the role food can have in our lives, to either heal or to grieve. Perhaps from the start, that was obvious to me - the name of the novel gave a bit of that away. What I enjoyed most about Mikulancak's novel is that it can be easier to humanize everyone other than our parents. The adolescent grip that holds onto the idolization of our parents can be difficult to pry.

Ginny Polk is the head chef at a Louisiana Penitentiary - she started a program that offers death row inmates a final supper of their choosing. As she tries to understand her own grief and guilt from a tragedy that happened decades prior, a tragedy that occurred when Ginny was just eight years old - she becomes smothered by the weight of the harrowing memories of her past.

Truths of her fathers character begin to erode the fond memories she has, forcing her to grapple with the possibility that she never really did know him and harshly judged her mother. This novel feels alive, and envelopes each with powerful compassion. This book is not only worth reading, but a novel worth a home on everyone's bookshelves.